Britain’s ‘Skunk’ Phenomenon

Once Britain’s youth started getting access to better weed, instead of that seedy garbage grown on the side of a road or poopy Moroccan soap-bar hash, a new Reefer Madness style drug war started, and it’s been using all the same propaganda: schizophrenia, psychosis, violence, crime, gateway effect, etc.

I’m not going to sit here and disprove every lie they’ve been pushing (been there, done that), but it’s thoroughly interesting that the object of this crusade isn’t marijuana in general, but some new, more potent form of cannabis they’re calling skunk. They’re painting a picture of skunk as if it were a super potent drug that’ll drive you crazy from taking one hit, and it’s driving England’s youth absolutely mad. It’s obvious what skunk is; it’s just better, seedless weed that doesn’t have any oregano in it.

Britain’s dealers are just getting wiser and they must not be picking up on that awful Moroccan soap-bar hash either. Most hash starts off in Morocco and goes through Spain and France before getting to England. The better stuff never makes it as far, so presumably the only hash that ever made to England was the stuff that’s cut so much they have to add ketamine so actually does anything to you, shoe polish to make it brown, and of course a little gasoline to make it all mix.

It goes to show how reactionary and unfounded the anti-cannabis movement really is. For one, neo-prohibitionists claim that skunk is causing an epidemic of schizophrenia in youth. Not only have psychosis and schizophrenia been declining, cannabis and skunk use have been increasing. On top of the lack of a well-founded link between cannabis use and psychosis, the paranoia that weed’s illegality can cause in its users may be the root cause of some of the psychosis it may generate. If smokers didn’t have to look over their shoulder every time they imbibed, they’d be a lot less likely to develop paranoia and its reality-altering consequences.

While it’s perfectly understandable for parents to not want their children to start using substances at ages as early as 13, this Reefer Madness rhetoric is forcing the market underground, and into the hands of the youth. When will they realize that a legal, open and regulated market is the solution?